Is 8 Glasses of Water Per Day Overkill?

An anonymous reader writes: "David Harris reports in his science news that the American Journal of Physiology today published a study dispelling the 8x8 myth. That is, the recommendation to drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water per day has no scientific evidence behind it. The paper also mentions the risks of drinking too much water and explodes some other urban myths of water drinking such as the 'thirsty means dehydrated' and 'dark urine means dehydrated' myths."

Comments

Stupid

[TheOnlyCoolTim]

Drinking water is good for you. Drink lots of water. When it is hot, humid, and I am outside, I can drink that 64 oz of water within an hour or less. The people who don't drink enough water get taken away in an ambulance.

You are orders of magnitude more likely to experience dehydration than to experience the almost mythical "water intoxication." (Yes, it is possible to kill yourself by drinking too much water, but it happens very very rarely.)

So ignore this article and go have a nice glass of water.

Tim

Re:Stupid

[Reality Master 101]

Drinking water is good for you. Drink lots of water.

Based on what evidence? I've always thought 8 glass of water thing was a crock.

When it is hot, humid, and I am outside, I can drink that 64 oz of water within an hour or less. The people who don't drink enough water get taken away in an ambulance.

Well, duh, obviously when it's hot and humid you need more water. But that's not what we're talking about. Under normal circumstances, you get more than enough fluids from the food you eat. Excess water/fluid just gets pissed out.